Hotel Castillo De Santa Catalina — Hotel in Málaga

Update May 4, received this response from the hotel ( but no personal follow up to my comments or request for a resolution). Telling me you will 'try better next time' is not satisfactory. I'll be avoiding SB Hotels. FYI, I emailed the SB loyalty program during my stay with no response either.

Five star hotels should deliver what they promise. This is a four star hotel at best. Providing heat to a modern swimming pool is common and necessary, it was freezing cold!

Short version- don't pay for the deluxe double, the photos on the website show a couple great rooms that don't represent what you actually get.

Long version-This was to be our vacation-in-a-vacation to take a break from sightseeing and enjoy a lovely hotel. Yes, the hotel is beautiful, particularly the restaurant and patio area. The beds are heavenly and other than the receptionists, the staff do a great job. The first room they were to put us in was like a cell with a small window above eye level. We couldn't stay there because they were using tile sealer on the entire restaurant floor a few steps from the room and it was off-gassing dangerous fumes (so bad everyone had to eat breakfast the next day outside while it was raining! Who schedules that type of noxious work with a full hotel and bad weather?)

My main issue is that we paid for the deluxe double but were put in the standard double. When I brought this to the attention of the registration staff I was told that I was wrong. I showed them their website that differentiates the two room types with four added features for the deluxe rooms; larger with 5 square meters more space, high ceilings, unique and beautiful windows, and premium bath products. Also, some have terraces, but not all. I showed them the photos on their website to but they stuck with their position. The three rooms we saw or were in had none of these features.

The first night they put us in a room that had twin beds even though our reservation clearly stated a double bed and they couldn't make the bed into one bed. Seems there was no one from the housekeeping staff at 18:00. They said they couldn't move us because the hotel was full even though they were offering rooms on line for the night. The receptionist said they would move us tomorrow to something better that she would let the morning staff know but we had to go through the same explanation and the same denial that the room was a standard double. So they move us next door to another standard room, again, lots of room type availability showing on the website to put us in the room type we paid for. At a minimum they should admit our room was a standard double and refund the price difference. I would give the room five stars as a standard double.

Also, be ready to pay high prices in the restaurant, for example an appetizer size serving of Iberian ham is 30 euro and the cheese plate is 25 euro. A small basket of potato...

Booked this for our last “luxury” few days in Spain after touring 6 weeks. Very disappointed as felt aside from fantastic view/outside terrace area and architectural historic building significance it was not worth the aggravation. Told to wait at check in with option terrace or pool. Wait was 2.5 hrs. Could have told us we won’t let you into room until precisely 3:00 pm. Wait usually doesn’t mean hours so we ate at terrace and sat there as hours clicked by. Received cheese in sandwitch after specifically saying do not give me cheese. On meds and threw up later that night. Finally got room when we both stood at reception at 3:05 pm. Room was horrid! Please see first photo. At this point partner so angry/I started to cry we both wanted to leave and go back to our prior wonderful hotel. Partner went to reception and got room changed. Reception lady is not warm or friendly just looks cold and annoyed at life. As you can see there is a HUGE difference in rooms but charged same price. Would recommend passing on the aggravation and come to hotel for a terrace drink instead. Food is way overpriced and average. We were thinking of booking trips with hotel but they wanted $200 euro (both or 1 person never bothered to ask) for a Catheral trip that is 5 minutes drive and when we went alone $9 per person admission including free self audio tour. Another $200 trip to Alcazar also mentioned in email. I get using a guide (we used some on our trip) but this is price gouging. I did get a $25 refund after filing a dispute with my credit card company for the sandwich (not for the money but on principle!) as the front desk (upon check out) could not do it without a major hassle, telling me I had to wait/needed to research this… while leaving for the airport. Also the pool is really a dip pool not for swimming. The place looks great in pictures but staff is uninspiring at best. A huge shout out to the great bellman from Senegal who was the highlight of the hotel stay. He should be given the job of manager. Nice personality and a smile go a long way with guests. Partner was done after first day so we did not eat breakfasts or use hotel for...

We stayed 2 nights here at the end of our Andalusia trip. The property is very attractive from an architectural and décor perspective, feeling grand and stylish in the common areas, with well-appointed and comfortable rooms. On the whole, we enjoyed our stay but on the basis of the hotel’s own marketing that it is “the most exclusive 5* hotel in Malaga”, having read great reviews, and considering the price we paid for our stay, our expectations were set pretty high and unfortunately the hotel didn’t quite live up to them. ||Our room and bathroom were lovely and very spacious, but the overall ambience was let down by quite an unpleasant odour, which we suspected was emanating from the drains. Although we raised this with reception a couple of times, they weren’t particularly concerned and nothing seemed to be done to try to resolve the issue (or switch our room), which was disappointing. ||We also had a slightly mixed experience at mealtimes. The lunch we had on arrival, and the breakfast we had on our first morning (both food and service) were excellent but the next day’s breakfast service was underwhelming – we struggled to get the attention of the staff to order drinks, we had to wait a long time for things to arrive, and when it started raining, they were reluctant to let us move to a table sheltered from the rain. It was a real shame that the service standards were so variable. ||Otherwise, our stay was fine, and mostly we appreciated the location of the hotel because it was quiet but within walking distance of the beach and the main bus route. The hotel has a very small pool/garden area with a few loungers/chairs but no other facilities so it is helpful to be able to conveniently get to the beach and the city’s other attractions without having...